A gay Massachusetts man filed a lawsuit against a Boston-area Catholic girls’ prep school after administrators reneged on a job offer once they realized he was married to a man.
Matthew Barrett said rescinding his job offer just isn’t fair, launching the suit with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, according to the Boston Globe.
“[The administrator] said the Catholic religion doesn’t recognize same-sex marriage and that was her excuse. She said, ’we cannot hire you.’ It just ate me up,” Mr. Barrett said while sitting in the Boston offices of the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, the group representing his lawsuit, the Globe reported.
The case raises potentially thorny constitutional issues that pit discrimination laws against the First Amendment’s religious freedoms. Mr. Barrett, who lives in Dorchester, said he was raised Catholic and that he had thought he had found his dream job when he was hired as food services director at Fontbonne Academy in Milton.
His marriage came to light when he listed his emergency contact on hiring paperwork as his husband.
The school wouldn’t comment directly on Mr. Barrett’s case but said the curriculum at the facility is based on traditional Roman Catholic teachings.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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